MINDFULNESS

What is Mindfulness?
Mindfulness is an ancient eastern practice which is very relevant for our lives today. Mindfulness is a very simple concept. Mindfulness means paying attention in a particular way: on purpose, in the present moment, and non-judgementally.

Mindfulness does not conflict with any beliefs or traditions, whether religious, cultural or scientific. It is simply a practical way to notice thoughts, physical sensations, sights, sounds, smells - anything we might not normally notice. The actual skills might be simple, but because it is so different to how our minds normally behave, it takes a lot of practice.

We might go out into the garden and as we look around, we might think "That grass really needs cutting, and that vegetable patch looks very untidy". A young child on the other hand, will call over excitedly, "Hey - come and look at this ant!"

Mindfulness can simply be noticing what we don't normally notice, because our heads are too busy in the future or in the past - thinking about what we need to do, or going over what we have done.
Mindfulness might simply be described as choosing and learning to control our focus of attention.

Jon Kabat-Zinn

As we become more practiced at using mindfulness for breathing, body sensations and routine daily activities, so we can then learn to be mindful of our thoughts and feelings, to become observers, and then more accepting of them. This results in less distressing feelings, and increases our ability to enjoy our lives.

With mindfulness, even the most disturbing sensations, feelings, thoughts, and experiences, can be viewed from a wider perspective as passing events in the mind, rather than as "us", or as being necessarily true. (Brantley 2003)

When we are more practiced in using mindfulness, we can use it even in times of intense distress, by becoming mindful of the actual experience as an observer, using mindful breathing and focusing our attention on the breathing, listening to the distressing thoughts mindfully, recognizing them as merely thoughts, breathing with them, allowing them to happen without believing them or arguing with them. If thoughts are too strong or loud, then we can move our attention to our breath, the body, or to sounds around us.

Jon Kabat-Zinn uses the example of waves to help explain mindfulness.

"Think of your mind as the surface of a lake or an ocean. There are always waves on the water, sometimes big, sometimes small, sometimes almost imperceptible. The water's waves are churned up by winds, which come and go and vary in direction and intensity, just as do the winds of stress and change in our lives, which stir up waves in our mind. It's possible to find shelter from much of the wind that agitates the mind. Whatever we might do to prevent them, the winds of life and of the mind will blow."

"You can't stop the waves, but you can learn to surf"

Eye Movement Desensitization & Reprocessing (EMDR)

Do you sometimes feel your emotional life is like a roller coaster ride? Do you find yourself having the same argument with your loved one or caught in an endless cycle of hurt feelings and hopelessness? Often at the root of this suffering is a well of unprocessed memories that have been pushed into the deep recesses of the unconscious. These past memories when traumatic, continue to trigger painful emotions often out of proportion to the present event.  Some of this past emotion is too painful to cope with so it is stored on a cellular level and can cause physical symptoms and even illness if left unprocessed. Studies have indicated that significant trauma actually causes pathways to develop in our brain. When we become upset by something, even if it is minimal, these pathways are triggered and can cause an emotional reaction similar in intensity to the original trauma.

EMDR is a process that heals on a neurological level. New pathways are formed and old triggers dissipate. Unlike other methods of therapy, EMDR is scientifically proven to be effective. It is short in duration and offers an alternative to traditional therapy.

I went into EMDR training with a healthy skepticism of this process which is said to have a high rate of recovery.

It wasn't until I experienced EMDR as a client that I recognized the shift in perspective regarding a recent trauma of my own. I went into a painful experience from my recent past, full of self doubt and shame. After the process I felt competent and even more important, a recognition of the truth and sincerity of my own beingness.

I recommend this therapeutic process to anyone who has felt unable to move forward because of past trauma, chronic emotional suffering or caught in a cycle of making poor relationship choices.

Update on Tuesday, November 13, 2012 at 11:30AM by Beverly Glover

Ask an Expert About E.M.D.R.

By TOBY BILANOW

The psychological therapy known as eye movement desensitization and reprocessing, or E.M.D.R., has gained increasing attention in recent years as a treatment for post-traumatic stress disorder among returning war veterans and others suffering from the results of serious trauma. The integrative approach uses rapid eye movements and other procedures to access and process disturbing memories.

 

“Recent research has demonstrated that certain kinds of everyday life experiences can cause symptoms of P.T.S.D. as well,” says Francine Shapiro, the originator of E.M.D.R. “Many people feel that something is holding them back in life, causing them to think, feel and behave in ways that don’t serve them. E.M.D.R. therapy is used to identify and process the encoded memories of life experiences that underlie people’s clinical complaints.”